Heretofore, many fishing nets have been disclosed to the public which have collapsible features. In an attempt to reduce the size of the fishing nets used, these nets have utilized a variety of collapsing means. However, while realizing their purposes for collapsibility, such nets have not been structurally sound or economically feasible. Moreover, the ease of assembly has been a particular problem for those nets which must be expanded for use at a moment's notice. Once assembled, these fishing nets do not possess the proper strength at their expansion securement point to withstand the weight placed in the fishing net during operation.
Many different types of collapsible fishing nets have been disclosed to the public. One type of net employs the handle as a canister for storage of the rim and netting. The rim may unfold and become secure by the use of a series of hinges, as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,874; or the rim may unfold using a series of three tubes, two of which are hinged together, and the second sliding along the third tube to its outermost point, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,272. Another type of fishing net is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,727,328, wherein the rim is stored in two pieces and connected once it is deployed from the handle.
Also utilizing the concept of assembling the rims at the base of the handle are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,471,273 and 3,579,890. In the former, the net disclosed also employs the use of a metal collar which slides over the two portions of the rim which are pivoted at a point farthest from the base of the handle. In the latter, the rim serves as one piece and is merely attached to the base of the handle, the essence of the invention being the spring-loaded handle extension apparatus.
Yet another type of fishing net is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,683,321. In this disclosure, the rim is hinged at two points; the base of the handle, and the point farthest from the base of the handle. This rim is collapsible in half longitudinally rather than laterally.
The final type of collapsible fishing net is disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 270,641; 407,709; and 1,490,048. In the first, the rim is laterally compressed along the length of the outer circumference of the handle; and, as the rim slides along the length of the handle to its full extension, the rim is secured at the base of the handle. The second disclosure of this type of fishing net utilizes a similar embodiment of the same general principal, but employs a different type of securing device at the base of the handle for the strength of the rim to be upheld during a landing operation. In the third embodiment of this type, it is the handle rather than the rim which moves to expand the rim to prepare for a landing operation. The handle is released from the far edge of the rim and the rim takes its natural shape, also employing the use of a telescoping portion of the rim. However, this embodiment does not employ any rim structural feature in connection with the handle to maintain structural strength and tension during a landing operation.
Because each of these types of fishing net embodiments have inherent within their structure, disadvantages of either case of assembly, tensile strength, compressibility, or the like; they are readily distinquished from the present application.